New Zealand Conservative

Pope Francis holding a crucifix A Catholic university in America is being investigated for having too many crucifixes, thus offending the Muslim students who go there. Not that any of the students have complained. No, it appears a serial litigant has complained on their behalf. The sixty-page complaint was filed with the Washington, D.C. Office of Human Rights by a one-man nuisance-lawsuit factory, George Washington University Law School Professor John Banzhaf. Muslim students are but pawns in Banzhaf’s game against Catholics. Taken to its logical conclusion, his lawfare would wipe out mosques and Islamic learning centers as well. The rules of engagement in the Establishment’s War on Religion have a funny way of changing to accommodate Islam, however, so perhaps those hypothetical logical conclusions will never be reached. Banzhaf’s complaint alleges that the large amount of Catholic imagery draping the halls of Catholic University creates an “offensive” environment in which...

This afternoon, St Philomena's Catholic church in New Plymouth burned down. I was particularly struck by the coincidence in names, as my neighbour was telling me earlier in the afternoon that after seeing the movie, Philomena , that is currently playing in the cinemas in New Zealand, she was left very angry at what the Catholic Church. Both of us were nowhere near New Plymouth at the time of the fire, so I'm not implying that she went and set fire to the church to vent her anger, but I am wondering if some one in New Plymouth did. I haven't seen the film, myself, but I have read that it is emotionally manipulative and very anti-Catholic movie, so much so that an atheist film reviewer, Kyle Smith, gave it a slam in the New York Post : With “Philomena,” British producer-writer-star Steve Coogan and director Stephen Frears hit double blackjack, finding a true-life tale that would enable them to simultaneously attack Catholics and Republicans . There’s no other purpose...

I continue to be amazed how many news articles there have been published in the New Zealand news media on Pope Francis.  This is probably because he is considered to be less Catholic than other Popes have been.  For this reason, it is important for those that are really interested in what Pope Francis has to say, to read better news than just the local Stuff, because there is important information being missed out in the more secular NZ press. Compare the New Zealand Stuff article from Reuters with the much more comprehensive AsiaNews.it .  Pope Francis was talking about Saint Stephen's martyrdom, celebrated by the Church as a Feast Day on the day after Christmas.  The day we more commonly refer to as Boxing Day, or the day when everyone goes to the shops to get really good sales items. The Stuff article connects Pope Francis' words to what is occurring in Islamic countries with regards to religious freedom.  However, religious freedom is also under attack...

Secular blasphemy: Where the secular world seeks to define what it considers to be articles of faith, and people reject those beliefs. In this case, girls should be able to do anything boys can when it comes to the Catholic Mass. The Story: Altar servers in recent times in Catholic Masses have been allowed to be girls. This has created in many parishes, a reluctance by boys to altar serve as it's seen to be a girly activity. I have sons who altar serve and it's only been since we've moved to a parish Mass that has a tradition of mostly male servers that they wanted to altar serve. Now, when the new Catholic Archbishop in Tasmania, Julian Porteous, is seeking to reverse the trend back to boys only past primary school age, the state government considers that turning away teenage girls from altar service at Catholic Masses might be discriminatory and therefore potentially not allowed. "Altar servers, generally speaking, are primary school age, around that age,...

No dissent will be tolerated, especially when a Catholic Archbishop says that Christians with homosexual tendencies need to be celibate: BRUSSELS, April 23, 2013 ( LifeSiteNews.com ) - In an astonshing display of gentleness in the face of a vile attack, the head of the Catholic Church in Belgium, Archbishop Andre-Joseph Leonard , remained calmly seated with eyes closed in prayer Tuesday as four topless women attacked him with shouts and curses and doused him with water. [...] The four women , representing the pro-abortion and homosexual group FEMEN, took to the stage where they disrobed to reveal black-painted slogans on their bare chests and backs , such as ‘my body my rules,’ and 'anus dei is coming.' They also held signs reading ‘stop homophobia’. The women doused the archbishop with water from bottles formed in the image of the Virgin Mary. For most of the attack, which lasted a number of minutes before the women could be forced off stage, Archbishop Leonard s...

Geoff Wood, of Papakowhai said: Nancy C Hill says a Catholic lay woman is a facilitator for priests' retreats ( Letters, March 21 ). I thought the altar-boys already had that function covered. I really wonder what type of person oversees the letters and how they decided Geoff Wood's "point" was worth publishing. It seems crude innuendo is acceptable when it comes to Catholics, which is more the sort of thing that would be expected from some blog sites and their more uncouth commenters.

I have a theory that Whaleoil needs to make anyone who disagrees with him evil, so he can justify to himself his own bad behaviour and the vitriol he heaps on others, like Lucia and Andrei. It would be a refreshing change of character to see Whaleoil act with a little more common decency, instead of this incessant character assassination. It was like this on the smacking debate, where any parent that would consider physical discipline one option out of many as part of parenting had to be cast as a child abuser, and on this particular debate it is equally important to cast any one who thinks the word marriage has a specific definition, has to be cast as homophobic to justify their own intolerance for different view points. Personally, seeing genuine debate of different perspectives reduced to calling people "haters" is of major concern to me when looking for signs that liberal/progressive intolerance for anyone against their views is increasingly fundamentalist and in very ...

This is a pretty typical accusation: Catholicism is directly responsible for hundreds of thousands (millions?) of deaths due to the spread of AIDS in Africa by discouraging condom use. [ LudditeJourno on the Hand Mirror ] That seems to me a particularly silly thing to say. Aside from the fact that the DIRECT causes are something far more obvious, I fail to understand how the Church advocating not using condoms would make ANY difference to non-Catholics. Q1. Does anyone seriously think non-Catholics will "obey" this suggestion? And for Catholics, this suggestion is part of a larger list. It is taken out of that list, breaking the context, by the media. The full message is: 1. No sex before marriage. 2. No condoms (be open to life) 3. No adultery Q2. Do you think Catholics are going to follow the second directive whilst they are actively ignoring the first and third? The whole contraception thing comes off as an overly simplistic way of playing the blame gam...

Cameron Slater, aka Whale Oil, is an anti-Catholic of the most virulent type .  I've come across a number of them now, and I find it's really difficult to converse calmly with them.  They tend to have beliefs of the most extreme kind, and like conspiracy theorists of the type who believe all our world leaders are actually alien reptiles, don't believe anything you tell them unless it matches their imaginary framework.  In this case, Whale Oil seems to believe the purpose of the Catholic Church is to act as a front for child sex abuse around the world.  If he doesn't believe that, then he's still happy to put that view forward in his posts. But first, the post Another dodgy Catholic priest , where Whale shows he doesn't care about correcting errors of logic and fact when they are pointed out to him.  He said, of the story that he links to: This is just going to keep on keeping on until the Church actually addresses what appears to be a systemic problem with...

Well, it seems all the anti-Catholics are out in force, casting aspersions on the character of Pope Benedict, accusing him of covering up child abuse in the Church, when he has done the most in the Church to combat it. They think that there is something explosive that Pope Benedict is running from that has forced him to abdicate, disregarding the notion that the burdens and workload of the papacy, which would be very difficult for men much younger to keep up with, and his advanced age of 85 at which few are active in public life and then only as figureheads such as Queen Elizabeth II, might actually be the real reason why he is moving aside for someone younger! No, no, it has to be some nefarious reason, he can't just abdicate! They probably think this because of idea of relinquishing power just like that seem inexplicable to them, so there must be a hidden reason. How many of them think they'd be capable of running a world-wide organisation at 85, or do they just envi...

Quite different to some of the Western world: Pope Benedict XVI resigns and moral cretins tweet hate, death wishes; Resign by ‘slitting your wrists’ ~ Twitchy

Another post by anti-Catholic bigot, Whale Oil on Catholic Church to retain right to be homophobic bigots in Australia . He says: The Catholic Church might be complicit in condoning and covering boy buggering but at least they will retain the right to continue to be homophobic bigots in Australia. Whale Oil's formula when commenting on the Church's opposition to same-sex marriage is to pull out a sin by some of the Church's members and then use that sin as a kudgel to beat down anything the Church might do or say. It's certainly effective to a certain extent about keeping that sin in the public mind. He uses the same technique against teachers as well. How would it work if everyone applied it? It could get ugly, really ugly. Not wanting to follow in the footsteps of the Accuser, I remain silent. Though, the use of the word "might", bolded above by me, seems to indicate a chink in certainty. The Church is full of sinners in need of redemption...

More than one thousand Catholic priests in Britain have signed a letter articulating their fears of a new wave of anti-Catholic persecution in Britain if marriage is redefined. In one of the biggest joint letters of its type ever written , they raise fears that their freedom to practise and speak about their faith will be “severely” limited and dismiss Government reassurances as "meaningless". They even liken David Cameron’s moves to redefine marriage to those of Henry VIII, whose efforts to secure a divorce from Katherine of Aragon triggered centuries of bloody upheaval between church and state . They claim that, taken in combination with equalities laws and other legal restraints, the Coalition's plans will prevent Catholics and other Christians who work in schools, charities and other public bodies speaking freely about their beliefs on the meaning of marriage. Even the freedom to speak from the pulpit could be under threa t, they claim. And they fear that ...

You've got to laugh, really. We should do a poll on the most anti-Catholic blogs in New Zealand. Whale Oil Beef Hooked would be right up there. Related link: Whaleoil Awards – Worst Political Blog UPDATE: I treat online conversations like I treat real conversations. If someone is being an asshole, I won't talk to them. Anyone that wants a conversation after acting like a real jerk needs to apologise and grovel profusely, and then accept that they don't have a right to have me respond to them. Continuing to attack me just makes it worse. I really wonder if some people on blogs actually know how to talk to real people face to face, or if all their interaction is just limited to the keyboard.

Thanks to John Stringer for pointing it out, in his post: Elton John opposes gay marriage. No, Elton John does not oppose gay marriage, but imagine if his image was being used to advertise that view. It would be propaganda of the worst kind, using a culturally iconic individual to potentially influence people who admire and respect Elton John's opinions with an outright lie. Likewise with this advertisement by a state owned power company, Powershop. Pope Benedict XVI, whether you are Catholic or not, represents in the mind of many, the Church and Church authority. It is highly offensive to use him in this way, to suggest that the Church and he could ever change his mind about the redefinition of marriage, and that he would be right to do so, that his current stance is wrong. Images form subconscious ideas in the mind, that's why so much money is spent on them in advertising, for advertising works. So, Pope Benedict XVI in a picture approving of a same-sex "ma...

Some real hatred going on at Whale Oil's blog against priests . It's disturbing, makes me think that wholesale persecution is not that far off. It all started from this story on Confession: Prime Minister Julia Gillard says using the seal of the Catholic confessional to cover up child abuse is a ‘‘sin of omission’’ because all adults have a duty of care towards children. Ms Gillard says the terms of reference for the federal royal commission announced on Monday haven’t been set, and nor has the way evidence will be gathered and witnesses questioned. ‘‘That is going to be a matter for the royal commissioners we appoint,’’ she told reporters in Brisbane on Wednesday. She said all parties including institutions and victims would be consulted carefully on the terms of reference. Advertisement When asked if the commission should examine the Catholic Church’s seal of the confessional, the prime minister agreed that it wasn’t good enough that some adults had been ‘‘avert...

In a media release today, Family First points out that Louisa Wall is making veiled threats of removing government funding against integrated schools (mostly Catholic) that oppose same-sex marriage. Family First NZ is hugely concerned by comments made by the author of the bill to redefine marriage regarding integrated schools who receive government funding and may disagree with altering the definition of marriage. In comments to a gay website about Northland’s Pompallier Catholic College and comments made by the Principal opposing the bill, Labour MP Louisa Wall said ‘I don’t think in these days of integrated schools and given this school does receive some form of state funding, that advocating against equality and non-discrimination and supporting discriminatory laws is what schools and a principal should be promoting.’ “This seems to be a veiled but real threat to integrated schools, many who are faith-based and would oppose same-sex marriage on religious grounds, t...

It's a bit of a scary list: Pres. Obama’s record in regard to Christians and Biblical values

I always find it interesting as to what type of Catholic news the media here in New Zealand likes to promote. Anything to do with sex abuse, or the Pope speaking out against same-sex marriage or nuns writing books on sex or, in this case, dying liberal cardinals. Hours after Milan's former Archbishop, Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, died at the weekend at the age of 85, the leading daily paper Corriere della Sera printed his final interview, in which he attacks the Church - and by implication its current leadership - for being "200 years out of date". "Our culture has aged, our churches are big and empty and the church bureaucracy rises up, our rituals and our cassocks are pompous," the Cardinal said. "The Church must admit its mistakes and begin a radical change, starting from the Pope and the bishops. The paedophilia scandals oblige us to take a journey of transformation." Church insiders believe he wished for the interview to be published follo...

The police were told and did nothing. NSW police were told that a Catholic priest now at the centre of a child sex abuse scandal was abusing boys almost 30 years ago, but took no action against him. In 1983, the father of an 11-year-old altar boy told officers in the town of Moree that his son had been touched inappropriately by the priest, known as Father F for legal reasons. The boy's father, who asked not to be named, said he raised the allegation with the late Monsignor Frank Ryan, a church official in the diocese of Armidale on three occasions, but nothing was done. "So I spoke to the police and they said they were aware of (Father F's) activities and something would come out of it," the father said. "But nothing happened." Ok then, nothing to see here, let's move on to blaming the priests who were told something of the Father F's crimes against children 9 years later ... Related link: Police 'took no action' over priest...